Ohio's Pending House Sales Index Up 1.5%
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The number of single-family houses and condominiums in Ohio put under agreement in December increased from the same month a year before, the Ohio Association of Realtors reports. The Pending Home Sales Index of 123.1 rose 1.5% from the December 2012 index score of 121.3.
A pending sale or a sale “under agreement” is the buyer and seller agreeing on terms of the sale of a house and signing a purchase and sale agreement but not closing their agreement.
“It’s evident, based on the slight increase in the number of home purchase contracts that occurred in December, that the Ohio housing market is becoming more balanced in its ongoing recovery,” said Chris Hall, president of the association, in a prepared statement. “December’s uptick in pending sales reverses a slight two-month dip for the marketplace, which had previously posted 29 consecutive months of year-over-year gains dating back to May 2011.
An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2008, which marked the end of five consecutive record years of the sale of existing houses and the onset of the Great Recession. Activity levels in 2008 reflect a historically healthy, balanced market.
The Ohio Association of Realtors, with more than 26,000 members, is the largest professional trade association in the state.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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